RIO

US, 2011, 96 minutes. Colour.
Voices of: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Wanda Sykes, Jane Lynch, Rodrigo Santoro, Jamie Foxx, Will i Am, Carlos Saldanha, Jemaine Clement, George Lopez, Tracy Morgan.
Directed by Carlos Saldanha.


Rio is a lively animated entertainment that should reach across all ages. It is full of energy and colour (especially the opening with the range of birds, their plumage and their flight) and a nice contrast between the cold of Minnesota and the warmth and rhythms of Brazil.

The film has ecological undertones for the serious-minded with the critique of the illegal bird smugglers.

But, it is also quite funny.

Blu is a macaw who cannot fly. He is abducted by the smugglers and finds himself in the US, with a little girl called Linda who loves him like a brother. She grows up, runs a bookstore in Minnesota, and he is loved and pampered and has never had to fly. And he has adapted to the mod cons of the US.

When a scientist from Brazil tracks him down, he pleads with Linda to let him go back to Brazil to mate with Jewell, the only female of the species left. Linda is unwilling but does the right thing – and, of course, will find romance along with the adventure and the perils with the scientist.

In Brazil, the smugglers have not given up and before long, Blu and Jewell, chained together and not getting along at all, are imprisoned. So, the main part of the film is the captivity, the dangers, the rescue, and the repercussions of Blu’s soft American life and his lack of skills, especially flying (despite attempts of friendly birds helping him try).

So, there is plenty of plot – and there are plenty of comic touches with this mismatched odd couple of macaws.

There are also a lot of characters who are entertaining in themselves. There are the smuggling bosses and the dopey henchmen who really want to dress up and dance at Carnivale. There is Nigel, an evilly glowering Cockatoo, who is the heavy in the smuggling business. There are a whole lot of other birds who fly in and out of the story.

For a few moments, it looked as though we were going to see only the sunny, Copacabana and beaches side of Rio, but soon we are in the favelas and looking at the social problems of the city. An important part of the plot is how a little boy is the pawn of the smugglers, a reminder of the exploitation of children in the city.

While the animation is lively and bright (from the makers of the Ice Age films), enhanced by 3D, and the musical numbers are more than expected but communicate the verve of Brazilian rhythms (and Sergio Mendez is one of the producers of the score), it is the voice cast which is outstanding.

Many will think that Blu may have invented Facebook because he is voiced in his idiosyncratic way by Jesse Eisenberg, while a lively Anne Hathaway is the dominating Jewell. Jermaine Clement (from Flight of the Conchords, Gentlemen Broncos) is an imposing Nigel. Various birds include Jamie Foxx and Will I Am floundering in their wisecracking attempts to help, Jane Lynch and Wanda Sykes as two commenting geese, George Lopez as the friendly toucan, Rafael, who wants to teach Blu to fly. Leslie Mann is Linda, the bespectacled heroine who finishes up on a float in the Rio parade, and Rodrigo Santoro as the eager scientist.

Very enjoyable.

1. A film to entertain adults as well as children?

2. The colourful animation, the birds and Nature, plumage, Brazil and the forests and the mountains, the city of Rio, the carnival atmosphere? The contrast with ordinary Minnesota?

3. The musical score, the spirit, the songs and characters, situations?

4. The talent and abilities of the voice cast?

5. Rio and its evocations, Latin America, the beaches and the coast, the mountains, the statue of Christ?

6. The message of the film on bird-smuggling, criminals, gangs and thugs, systems for export, the ruin of Nature?

7. The presentation of the bird world, beauty, range of birds? The focus on the macaws?

8. Blu and his life, alone, captured, transported, arriving in Minnesota, the bleak differences, Linda and her getting him, her care for him, growing up with her, the years passing, the American comforts, Linda and her work in the bookshop?

9. Tulio and his visit, encounters with Linda, proposing to take Blu back to Brazil? Her reactions, possessive of Blu, Blu not wanting to go? Her conscience getting the better of her? The travel to Brazil, the contrast between Rio and Minnesota?

10. Jewel and the purpose of the trip, Blu and Jewel as the remnant macaws, the two clashing, Jewel and her superiority, Blu and his being very much an American?

11. The picture of the smugglers, their work, transport? The boy and his role in capturing the birds? Blu and Jewel and their being chained together? The adventures? The thugs and their behaviour, Nigel and his villainy? The boy and his change of heart, his help? The other birds and their contribution, Rafael, Louis and the jokes, separating the two birds?

12. Blu and his inability to fly, his fears, Rafael trying to help, falling over the cliff, swooping down on the beach, the hang gliders, disaster?

13. The smugglers, the boy and the thugs and Carnivale? The thugs and their preparation for their costumes? Nigel and his pursuit, his domination? Sinister voice?

14. The other birds, the geese and their comments, Nico and Pedro and their jokes, inefficient? In action, comedy? Jewel and her further captivity, Blu coming to the rescue? His efforts, learning to fly?

15. Tulio, Linda, the laboratories, the research, the animals? The bond with the professor and between Tulio and Linda? Carnivale, Linda in the costume, on the float, the comedy with the floats and the procession? Blu and his finding Linda?

16. The rescue, the reconciliation – the happy ending and the future?